Penguins looking to seal the deal

The Montreal Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak makes a save against the Pittsburgh Penguins during Game 5 of their NHL playoff series at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh on Saturday, May 8, 2010. (DAVID DENOMA/QMI Agency)

Three times in the opening round of the NHL playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens faced elimination.

Three times they found a way to win against the Washington Capitals, eliminating the NHL's top regular-season team.

Now they face elimination at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins Monday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal at the Bell Centre.

Facing the jittery Caps was one thing.

Now the Canadiens are up against a team that knows something about closing the deal, never mind trying to avoid elimination without what could amount to half their blue line.

The Canadiens find themselves in this spot after losing 2-1 at Mellon Arena Saturday night in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal, giving the defending Stanley Cup champions a chance to close the Habs out.

"We're not going to go away. You know that," said Canadiens winger Mike Cammalleri, who scored on the power play with 31 seconds left in the third period for his team-leading ninth goal of the playoffs and had Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury come up with another big save on him in the dwindling seconds. "We're ready to go home and play a game. We've just got to win one at home and we'll be right back here where we want to be."

Making things interesting now is the status of Canadiens defenceman Hal Gill, who appeared to catch the skate of Penguins winger Chris Kunitz in the back of the knee on his second shift of the third period. Gill, who has played such a huge role in keeping Penguins captain Sidney Crosby without a goal in this series, did not return and was expected to remain here overnight while his teammates chartered home. His status is to be updated Sunday.

Also interesting is the status of top Montreal defenceman Andrei Markov. According to a source close to the situation, Markov's status depends on how his knee - injured in Game 1 on a hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke - handles a workout. If it doesn't swell up, that would be another step towards a return, perhaps as early as Monday night.

"It all depends on how it responds. If you can get the swelling out, you can tape it up. Everybody's body is different. He wouldn't be the first guy to play with a damaged ACL," said the source.

The return of Canadiens veteran defenceman Jaroslav Spacek, who has missed the last eight games with an illness that left him suffering from vertigo, also remains a possibility for Monday night. He has apparently been cleared by the Canadiens medical staff to play and skated hard again after Saturday's morning skate.

The Penguins, meanwhile, had a couple of encouraging developments Saturday night. Centre Evgeni Malkin looked more like last year's Conn Smythe Trophy winner, reeling off a few dominating shifts in the second period.

Fleury rebounded from a so-so effort in Game 4, playing one of his strongest periods of the series in the first Saturday night, stoning Cammalleri in the second minute of the game. Fleury is now 15-5 in games following a loss in the playoffs.

"We made it easy for their goalie. We had no traffic in front of him. We need to do the same thing to them that they did to us," said Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who was beaten on screened shots by Penguins defencemen Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar.

"Everybody still believes. It's 3-2 and we're still in there," said Halak. "We've been in this situation before. It's going to be a huge game (Monday night) and I'm pretty sure the fans are going to help us."